AZ Policy Wonk

Sometimes the story about getting the story is better than what ends up in print. This time, we’re determined not to let that happen. It’s just too doggone funny.

Hours before the fiscal deadline and with a government shutdown looming, the media were clamoring in the halls of the Capitol seeking answers to a slew of tough questions - the kind, actually, that should send shivers up the spines of policymakers.

Gov. Jan Brewer, meanwhile, was holding last-minute budget meetings with Republican leadership and various House Democrats in House Speaker Kirk Adams’ office.

Capitol Times reporter Jim Small, who relayed this story to me, had waited out the duration of the two-hour meeting in the lobby of the speaker’s office with a pair of other reporters, the intrepid Howie Fischer and Daniel Scarpinato of the Arizona Daily Star. About 45 minutes before the meeting broke up, shuffling noises came from further back in the speaker’s office. It was Brewer and her top aides exiting; the door clicked open and Brewer could be heard talking.

First out of the office and into the doorway of the ante room was Brewer’s chief of staff, Kevin Tyne. But before Brewer could round the corner, Tyne slammed on the brakes and directed everyone back into Adams’ office. The three scribes half-joked that Tyne had seen the Fourth Estate waiting to pepper the governor with questions, so he herded her back into the safety of the speaker’s office to ensure she was prepared.

Just in case the governor decided to avoid the reporters waiting at the office’s main entrance – there are a handful of ways to enter or leave the speaker’s office – the reporters kept an eye on her DPS security detail, who was parked comfortably in a chair in the ante room for much of the stakeout.

Occasionally, the DPS officer would walk over to the interior of the office, near Adams’ assistants. Though he was out of the reporters’ direct line of sight, a mirror on the far wall allowed them to see the DPS officer and ensure he hadn’t left. After all, Brewer wasn’t going anywhere without him.

The jokes about Tyne’s retreat rang true a short time later, as Paul Senseman, the governor’s spokesman, arrived and entered the office. A half-hour or so went by, and the print reporters were joined by a reporter from Channel 12 who was there for another story but decided to wait out Brewer and possibly get an interview with her that his TV competitors wouldn’t be able to match.

Then, Senseman emerged from the office and offered to answer questions. The three newspaper reporters were lukewarm to the idea of talking with the governor’s spokesman again – a reporter can take only so many non-committal answers to what should be simple questions – but the TV guys jumped at the chance.

Senseman set up camp right in the doorway, with the Channel 12 cameraman and reporter in the hallway. After a few questions, the rest of the reporters reluctantly joined in, asking Senseman about the budget situation and the looming government shutdown.

Suddenly, as Jim tells it, he heard the clicking sound of a door being shut. He turned and looked in the mirror, glancing at where the security detail had been moments before. The officer was gone, and the sound was the door to Adams’ office being shut.

Jim grabbed Scarpinato’s arm, nodded toward the back of the office and said, “The guard’s gone. They’re taking off.” Senseman had been used as a diversion so Brewer could leave without facing the press.

Scarpinato squeezed past Senseman, and Jim followed, moving quickly toward the back stairs in the House. Howie and the TV folks were right behind. Just as the press corps’ finest arrived at the back stairwell, the door slammed shut. They opened the door and, sure enough, there was Brewer on the landing, halfway down to the ground floor, with Tyne right behind her and the DPS officer in front of her.

The questions began to flow. But Brewer never stopped. She gave a few answers as she walked out the back door and toward the parking lot. A pair of reporters from the Arizona Guardian were outside waiting, snapping photos of the governor as she was escorted to her waiting car by the Channel 12 cameraman and the four reporters. Once in the parking lot, she jumped in the back seat of a waiting black Chrysler 300 and took off, followed closely by another DPS vehicle.

That’s the backstory, straight from Jim Small. As a side note, the only part of this that ended up in our earlier news story was the following quote from Brewer:

“We didn’t offer the Democrats anything other than telling them what the bill includes and asked them for support,” Brewer, also a Republican, said to reporters as she left the House down the back stairs.

So, let your imagination run wild the next time you see a quote followed by something like “… said to reporters as she left the House down the back stairs.” What really happened is probably even weirder than you’d think.

House Appropriations Chairman Rep. John Kavanagh said some legislators have started to tout a taxpayer bill of rights, or TABOR, as an alternative to a flat income tax rate in the 2010 budget.

Speaking at legislative wrap-up breakfast hosted by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, the Fountain Hills Republican said there are issues with the flat-tax proposal, including as the inability of small businesses to take deductions on things such as retirement and health insurance. The proposal in the Legislature would replace the progressive tax rate of 2.59-4.54 with a flat rate, likely between 2.8-3 percent.

“If we do wind up going down this path, my guess is – this is not going to be effective until 2012 – we’ll have to make changes to that. But I understand that TABOR is now floating around the Senate, so there could be a switch,” Kavanagh said while outlining the potential problems he sees with a flat-tax rate.

Kavanagh said he is beginning to doubt whether the flat tax will even be included in the budget, and said TABOR is starting to look like a viable alternative to some lawmakers. He stopped short, however, of endorsing such a plan.

“If it’s a spending limit … that’s really the root of the problem. If you want to directly control somebody’s behavior, then you control that behavior. You don’t start controlling things that person can use as a tool for that behavior. That’s kind of an indirect control,” he said. “But TABOR’s got issues too that have to be worked out.”

TABORs are measures designed to limit government spending and taxes. They often include provisions such as requirements that increases in tax revenue be tied to inflation and population increases.

-Posted by Capitol Times reporter Jeremy Duda

The Senate Appropriations Committee has recessed twice after starting today’s budget hearings hours later than they had planned.

The first recess was called after the committee voted down the first of 9 budget bills on the agenda. S1470 was rejected after a 4-4 vote. Sens. Pamela Gorman, Al Melvin, Russell Pearce and Sylvia Allen voting for it, while Sens. Paula Aboud, Ron Gould, Jack Harper and Steve Pierce voting against it.

After the vote, Gould called for a recess. 

The panel then reconvened a few minutes later, but was interrupted again shortly thereafter when more Democratic members of the committee entered the room. Aboud was the only Democrat on the committee who was there for the first vote.

Seeing that the additional Democrat votes might sink the proposal again, another recess was called.

Gould, meanwhile, said he needs at least four hours to study the measures.

“I want to at least know what I am voting on — to know whether I can hold my nose and move the thing out Appropriations,” he said.

-Reporting by Capitol Times writer Luige del Puerto

The following question was raised by an astute reader who commented on a Capitol Times story earlier today: Can the Legislature vote on a budget this Saturday, June 27, considering measures must be read in chamber three times and on different days?

The short answer is “yes,” but it deserves further explanation.

The background is that the Legislature technically read the bills for the first time when they introduced “trailer bills” on Thursday. The trailer bills are simply vehicles on which to place budget language when the final agreement has been hashed out.

That means, since lawmakers gave the bills a second formal introduction on Friday afternoon, they’re all set to third-read and vote on the measures on Saturday.

The Legislature also could avoid the pesky requirement to read bills on three seperate days before a vote by suspending rules, which the commentor brought up as a possibility. But suspending rules would require a supermajority vote in the House (the commentor also brought this up, and is totally right on), which might be difficult in this political climate.

So, they could feasibly vote on the bills Saturday. But there’s a lot of room between “could” and “will.”

During its 2009 Awards Luncheon, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Dick Hannon of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona “passed the gavel” to Chairman-Elect Don Robinson of APS. The organization’s annual event also featured awards and introduced a slew of new leaders.

Rep. Andy Tobin was named Representative of the Year for his work to support business-friendly legislation. Tobin used his time to thank the freshmen lawmakers for their hard work to understand a budget problem that none of them created. He reminded the business community that they’ve taken “a lot of bullets” from the business community over various issues.

He also pointed out that he supports Gov. Jan Brewer’s plan to allow voters to decide whether or not to enact a tax increase to part of the budget gap.

Tobin also urged business leaders to act boldly. “If you don’t lead us out of this crisis, who will?” he asked.

Sen. Jonathan Paton was honored as the Senator of the Year. He started his speech with a joke about his first trip to Phoenix as a legislator. “It was like coming from the colonies and going up to Rome,” he said.

He said he also believes the solution to the state’s fiscal problems would best be solved by business leaders, rather than the Legislature.

It’s the Legislature’s job to sweep away those obstacles and to secure our freedom, he said. “And one of the most sacred rights in this country is the right to a secret ballot,” a reference to his measure in the Legislature to send a message to Congress to reject so-called card-check legislation.

Paton also urged voters to eliminate the system of public financing in Arizona.

In addition to the awards, the Arizona Chamber also welcomed the following new board of directors members: Jim Campbell, Qwest; Bob Hanna, Procter & Gamble; Mitch Laird, Burger King; Tim Lawless, NAIOP; Mary Ann Miller, Tempe Chamber of Commerce and Jim Norton, R&R Partners.

2009-10 Officers and Executive Committee

Officers:
Chairman: Don Robinson, APS
Chairman-Elect: Reg Ballantyne, Vanguard Health Systems
Vice Chairman of Manufacturing/Chairman of the AMC: Mark Dobbins, SUMCO Phoenix Corporation
Vice Chairman of Finance: Eric DeBonis, Southwest Gas
Vice Chairman of Public Affairs: Jason Bagley, Intel Corporation
Vice Chairman of Membership: Doug Yonko, Hensley
Vice Chairman of Political Action: Alan Heywood, Prime Investments
Immediate Past Chairman: Dick Hannon, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona

Executive Committee chairmen:
Budget and Government Reform: Pat Barnes, Bank of America
Education and Workforce Development: Dave Howell, Wells Fargo
Energy: Ron Minegar, Arizona Cardinals
Environment: Jeff Homer, General Dynamics
Health Care: Dennis Dahlen, Banner Health and Mark El-Tawil, Humana
Legal, Regulatory, and Financial Affairs: Dawn Grove, Karsten Manufacturing
Small Business: Tim Jeffries, P7 Enterprises
Taxation: Mike Guggemos, Motorola and Dean Riesen, Rimrock Company
Technology and Economic Development: Bill Terry, IBM
Transportation and Infrastructure: Dave Berry, Swift Transportation
Water and Natural Resources: Gena Trimble, SRP
Workers’ Compensation: Rick DeGraw, SCF Arizona
Workplace and Insurance: Ellen Poole, USAA
Member-At-Large: Benton Davis, UnitedHealthcare
Member-At-Large: C.A. Howlett, US Airways
Member-At-Large: Ivan Johnson, Cox Communications

That was fast. And somewhat bewildering.

It took the Arizona Supreme Court roughly five hours to issue a ruling that left both sides claiming victory in a legal challenge that resulted from the seriously fouled up budget negotiations between Gov. Jan Brewer and the Arizona Legislature.

OK, so the justices got the first set of written arguments a week before the June 23 oral arguments. But, still, the quick turnaround was pretty darn remarkable.

State high courts and the U.S. Supreme Court have been known to drag out decisions for months. Although a delay such as that would have rendered this case pointless, I, for one, didn’t think we’d see a ruling for days.

The downside is that it provides a truncated explanation for the action the court decided to take. In this case, the court didn’t notate exactly how it came to the conclusion that, in essence, the governor’s case had merit and the Legislature should indeed be prevented from withholding legislation for political reasons.

But, at the same time, the ruling stopped short of demanding the Legislature to turn over the budget bills that were approved by both chambers on June 4. It only stated that the bills need to be on Brewer’s desk by the end of the fiscal year, which was never in dispute.

Boiled down, the ruling seems to indicate Brewer was both right and wrong in her assertions that the Legislature has a requirement to give her legislation soon after it passes.

It also sends a signal to the Legislature that it had better not try those kinds of shenanigans again – but, at the same time, allowing lawmakers to continue along in their strategy, which, in effect, could pin Brewer up against a wall to either sign a budget she doesn’t agree with or shut down non-essential government services until the two sides can reach an agreement.

I’m sure the justices have solid reasons for their seemingly peculiar decision. But it would have been nice if they would have seen the wisdom of illuminating Arizona residents as well.

Myriad Republican lawmakers attended this morning’s Arizona Supreme Court hearing in the legal challenge that pits Gov. Jan Brewer against top Republicans in the Legislature. The hearing lasted about an hour, with both sides given 30 minutes to present their arguments to the five state Supreme Court justices.

Republicans in the gallery included: Sen. Chuck Gray, Sen. Russell Pearce, Rep. John Kavanagh, Sen. Jack Harper, Senate President Bob Burns, Rep. Doug Quelland and House Speaker Kirk Adams. There were too many Republican lawmakers to name, actually, but few, if any, Democrats.

Capitol Times reporters Christian Palmer and Jeremy Duda were there to scrounge some news for the paper, and came back with a few quick highlights.

Here’s the skinny: 

The justices cut short attorneys arguments about the political battle behind the legal challenge that has pitted Brewer against top Republican lawmakers. They instead sought answers about why they should accept Brewer’s petition for special action, asking for an explanation for how Brewer would be harmed if the court refused to accept the case.

Justice Andrew Hurwitz surmised that a veto of the budget was in the future, anyway, otherwise the case wouldn’t have been brought up.

Brewer’s attorney Joe Kanefield said Brewer’s intentions regarding the budget measures shouldn’t figure into the legal analysis. Most importantly, he said, the Legislature should submit the bills to Brewer in order to allow her the proper time to review and act on the bills. Holding off could lead to a shutdown of government services.

Justices sought Kanefield’s input on whether the governor wants an immediate order to leadership to submit the bills or some sort of an established test to determine what constitutes a “reasonable time” for bills to be turned over.

Kanefield said the goal is an immediate order stating that the nature of the bills, considering they are appropriations bills, demanded action. “It is different and deserving of special treatment,” he said.

The attorney representing the Legislature, David Cantelme, claimed the governor wanted the bills transfered simply to gain a political advantage – but he was interrupted by Justice Scott Bales, who asked “Isn’t that why the Legislature is holding them?”

Cantelme said there’s still time for the Legislature to vote to suspend its rules to rescind or reconsider the budget bills. “Any member of the Senate could upset the apple cart if they could command 16 votes.”

The timing of transferring bills to the governor is strictly the prerogative of the Legislature, Cantelme argued.

The justices gave no indication of whether they will accept jurisdiction of the case. It’s unclear when the court will announce its intentions.

This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a few cases that impact Arizona, including the English language learners case. AZCapitolTimes.com will provide updates and reaction from lawmakers. For now, check out the court’s official ruling at

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/08-289.pdf

The Senate is back in full gear today, trying to make up for lost time on non-budget bills. After working the past two Fridays, the chamber seems intent on finishing work on at least some of the measures that have sat idle for the past five months. Something like 80 bills up for third-reads today.

Also, the House is planning to COW and third-read a bill this afternoon that would allow Tucson to create a special taxing district to pay for spring training facilities, which would allow the city, presumably, to continue hosting pre-season baseball. But the bill might not mean diddly since the Rockies and Diamondbacks both have indicated they want to leave Tucson and are pursuing options with other host cities.

Then, there’s the deadline for the governor to file her arguments to the Arizona Supreme Court by the end of the day. The Legislature waited until the last minute before it’s deadline Friday to file its arguments, and the governor is likely to do the same. So, we’re planning on getting our hands on that paperwork late this afternoon. What her office files, however, probably won’t surprise anyone, since Gov. Brewer already has outlined her arguments to the public.

That’s some of what’s on tap for the rest of Monday. As for tomorrow, we hear there’s likely to be discussion in the House Government Committee on a measure sponsored by Sen. Jack Harper that would permit the state to send a recommendation to Congress that the United States should pull out of the United Nations. Should be interesting, anyway…

It was about time the Arizona Capitol Times got a new Web site. It was obvious that we had outgrown the old one. There’s just too much going on at the Capitol – and we needed a better, more efficient way to bring you the news. So, here it is.

I originally intended to write a note explaining all the new features, but decided against it. Instead, we want you to spend a few minutes looking it over and then add your comments/suggestions below. Tell us what you like and what you would like to see us change in the future. And be totally candid. We like honesty.